Yuan Miao breathed a sigh of relief after dealing with Ji Minglang.
He cautiously glanced at Li Qing, afraid she might notice something, but saw her face remained cold and silent.
Yuan Miao was utterly confused.
After class, taking advantage of Li Qing’s trip to the restroom, Yuan Miao couldn’t hold back and asked Ji Minglang about the situation.
“You’re asking about Li Qing and Yuan Tingshen?”
Ji Minglang sighed, marveling at Yuan Miao’s bravery, and explained, “They’re sworn rivals—the kind Old Liao has tried to mediate multiple times but failed… Since you’re Yuan Tingshen’s brother, you should be careful.”
Sworn rivals?!
Then how did he come into existence?
Yuan Miao’s pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with shock.
“Why?”
“Good question, we’d like to know too.”
Ji Minglang shrugged.
The hostile relationship between the two had become the most intriguing gossip among the students in Class 1.
But no one dared to confront the two directly with this question; most just quietly observed.
When Li Qing returned from the restroom, she saw Yuan Miao sitting dazed in his seat, looking utterly miserable, as if the sky had fallen.
Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, Liao Ting walked in carrying a stack of test papers. The next class happened to be his math lesson.
“We’re having a pop quiz this class. The class representative, come up and hand out the papers…”
Li Qing closed her mouth and sat down in her seat.
Once she got the test paper, she skimmed through it briefly before picking up her pen to start solving the problems.
Yuan Miao had just regained his composure when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Li Qing solving problems rapidly. She barely even used scratch paper for calculations, solving most of the problems mentally.
His recently calmed emotions were once again unsettled.
“…Mom, you know all of these?!”
“Isn’t it simple?”
Li Qing glanced at him casually and tapped her pen on the desk. “Stop daydreaming and focus on the test.”
“Oh, oh, oh…”
Yuan Miao’s confusion grew heavier.
His parents had actually kept so many stories from their youth hidden from him all these years!
Halfway through the class, Liao Ting displayed the answers on the whiteboard and told them to check their own work first.
Yuan Miao nervously stared at Li Qing’s test paper.
When he noticed Li Qing sitting motionless, lost in thought, he whispered a reminder, “Mom, why aren’t you correcting it?”
“I got them all right. Why would I need to correct anything?”
Li Qing looked at him strangely.
Then she was met with Yuan Miao’s stunned reaction.
Yuan Miao stammered, “A-all right?!”
He had lost count of how many times he’d been shocked that morning.
Was his mom this good at studying? Then why hadn’t she gotten into college later?
There must be some hidden reason behind this!
Yuan Miao felt the weight on his shoulders grow even heavier.
Li Qing noticed how odd Yuan Miao had been acting all morning, so she picked up his test paper to take a look.
Upon seeing that Yuan Miao had only attempted the multiple-choice questions—and gotten two out of five correct—she fell into a dead silence.
“You…”
Suddenly realizing a truth, she spoke hesitantly, “Why did you only do the multiple-choice questions?”
Yuan Miao’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
Meeting Li Qing’s complex and incredulous gaze, he guiltily explained, “Only the multiple-choice questions are guessable.”
Li Qing: “…”
That feeling of helplessness washed over her again.
But instead of sensing something was wrong, Yuan Miao turned the tables and urged Li Qing to study harder, even arbitrarily setting a goal for her.
“Mom, aim for Jinghua University, okay!”
“……”
Li Qing’s lips twitched wordlessly.
Yuan Miao definitely didn’t know her true academic level.
With her current grades, as long as she took the college entrance exam on time, she could choose any university in Jinghua.
This was also why Liao Ting felt regretful.
Li Qing let out a light scoff: “No wonder you looked guilty when Brother Zhao asked earlier.”
So it turned out Yuan Miao hadn’t inherited her intelligence.
If it wasn’t her problem, then it could only be the fault of Yuan Miao’s biological father.
Yuan Miao’s expression stiffened, forcing himself to act calm while whining: “Oh, Mom, isn’t it enough that you’re amazing…”
“Tch.”
Li Qing poked his forehead with her fingertip and said irritably: “That trick doesn’t work anymore. Pay attention to the lecture.”
After class, Yuan Tingshen, who had spent two periods mentally preparing himself, finally stood up and walked toward the back row.
As soon as he moved, many eyes in the classroom fell on him.
Especially Ji Minglang, who was at the center of the storm.
He had just stood up to go out for some fresh air, but upon seeing this, immediately sat back down.
Noticing his biological father approaching, Yuan Miao blinked frantically, hinting for him not to reveal their relationship.
He worried too much.
Yuan Tingshen had no intention of explaining their relationship. He walked over and picked up the test paper on Yuan Miao’s desk.
Then his brows furrowed deeply.
“Why didn’t you do the last two major questions?”
“…I don’t know how.”
Yuan Miao answered wearily.
During the latter half of the class, he hadn’t had a chance to space out—his mother had been watching him correct his mistakes the entire time.
Making every minute feel like a year to Yuan Miao.
Don’t know how?
Such simple questions…
Yuan Tingshen glanced at Yuan Miao, seeing his “empty-headed” state, and a strong sense of foreboding rose in his heart.
He tentatively asked: “Then those two multiple-choice questions you got right…”
“I guessed them!”
As long as his mother was around, Yuan Miao could be utterly shameless and arrogant in front of his biological father.
Unfortunately, he forgot that the parents beside him were their younger versions.
The two were still sworn rivals at this point.
Yuan Tingshen’s pupils trembled.
In that moment, he and Li Qing reached a silent agreement.
His intelligence definitely wasn’t the problem—could it be the issue of his never-met wife?
Ji Minglang had already forgotten about wanting to gossip.
When he heard Yuan Miao confidently say he guessed the answers, he reacted as if he’d met a kindred spirit.
“A soulmate!”
“Could it be that you also…”
“Yeah!”
Then, under Li Qing and Yuan Tingshen’s speechless gazes, the two wore expressions of meeting an old friend in a distant land and excitedly shook hands.
Ji Minglang even patted Yuan Miao’s shoulder like a seasoned veteran.
“Are you athletic? You could follow my path and apply through sports recruitment.”
“No.”
Before Yuan Miao could answer, Li Qing and Yuan Tingshen simultaneously refuted this suggestion.
Ji Minglang was stunned.
Yuan Tingshen objecting was understandable—after all, he was Yuan Miao’s older brother—but why was Li Qing also…
Yuan Miao’s excited expression also wilted awkwardly after they spoke up.
He muttered quietly: “Brother Ji, studying is still important.”
Ji Minglang was even more shocked.
Frustrated by Yuan Miao’s lack of backbone, he was about to urge him to stand up and resist when he heard Li Qing casually remark:
“Are you guaranteed to get in through sports recruitment? So confident.”
“…Haha.”
Ji Minglang laughed awkwardly.
He and Yuan Miao exchanged glances, both seeing a shared sense of mutual suffering in each other’s eyes.
Ji Minglang silently swallowed the rest of his words, then, under the watchful gazes of Li Qing and Yuan Tingshen, made a gesture of zipping his lips and begging for mercy before turning his head away.
It was just too strange.
A peculiar feeling kept welling up in Ji Minglang’s heart.
Why did these two have such a strong parental aura in front of Yuan Miao?